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This chapter serves as the author's second account of his fieldwork in the district of Of. It introduces the term “hodja from Of,” which represents a stereotype for educated urbanites throughout the Turkish Republic. The chapter explains how the local elites and social thinking and practice are connected to Islamic belief and practice, and also examines the tradition of religious study, specifically its “upward” relationship to the state system and its “downward” relationship to ordinary townsmen and villagers. The question of why the hodjas specialized only in official Islam and neglected...

This chapter serves as the author's second account of his fieldwork in the district of Of. It introduces the term “hodja from Of,” which represents a stereotype for educated urbanites throughout the Turkish Republic. The chapter explains how the local elites and social thinking and practice are connected to Islamic belief and practice, and also examines the tradition of religious study, specifically its “upward” relationship to the state system and its “downward” relationship to ordinary townsmen and villagers. The question of why the hodjas specialized only in official Islam and neglected all its other versions is addressed.